KARACHI: The stock market rallied on Wednesday after some clarity with regard to the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme emerged a day ago.

The bull run in the equity market also caused appreciation in the rupee, which recorded its highest daily gain in absolute terms (Rs9.59) against the dollar and closed at 228.80, up 4.19 per cent from Tuesday, said Arif Habib Ltd.

“The investors rejoiced over the news as the KSE-100 went up… giving the bulls an upper hand to remain active throughout the day. Hefty volumes were witnessed on the main board,” it added.

The dollar rate has appreciated by Rs52 or 23pc so far in 2022. It rose by Rs19 or 8pc during the last two weeks alone on fears of a delay in the IMF programme, falling foreign exchange reserves and increased political noise, according to Topline Securities.

“Going forward, we recommend investors should adopt a buy-on-dips strategy in steel, technology, refinery and cement sectors,” said JS Global.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,068.87 points, up 877.26 points or 2.18pc from a day ago.

The trading volume increased 53.1pc to 333 million shares while the traded value went up 58.3pc to $43.8m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (32.49m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (29.19m shares), Unity Foods Ltd (22.89m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (20.25m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (14.11m shares).

Sectors contributing to the index performance included banking (201.2 points), cement (174.2 points), exploration and production (92.2 points), oil marketing (48.4 points) and fertiliser (39.8 points).

Top advancers in percentage terms were Unicap Modaraba (16.36pc), B.F. Modaraba Ltd (16pc), First Dawood Investment Bank Ltd (13.2pc), Samba Bank Ltd (11.25pc) and Dawood Equities Ltd (11.09pc).

Top decliners in percentage terms were Cordoba Logistics and Ventures Ltd-R (23.08pc), Trust Modaraba Ltd (15.26pc), Power Cement Ltd-Preference (12.88pc), Reliance Insurance Company Ltd (12.17pc) and Jubilee Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd (10.3pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.74m.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2022